The first horse to record five Flat wins in 2015 and 2016 did not do so until July, while in 2017 it was not until the middle of March. Spare Parts will have earned his place in the spotlight this evening if he can record his fifth win in 2018 on the card at Chelmsford City, just 18 days into the new year.
Phil McEntee’s four-year-old made it four for the year in a seven-furlong handicap at Lingfield Park on Wednesday, when he was carrying a 12lb penalty. He was caught a little wide on the turn but still found more than enough to run down the leader inside the final furlong and win with something to spare.
Spare Parts has the same penalty today and so is effectively off the same mark, but he is back down to six furlongs – the trip for his third win of 2018 at this track a week ago – and perhaps more importantly, has a wide draw in stall 13 to overcome.
He is certainly the form horse, but 7-4 is a skinny price in the circumstances with several decent all-weather handicappers for the grade in opposition. Hisar (5.55), at around 11-1, is one of those and offers solid each-way value against the favourite.
The jumps card at Wincanton opens with a match, but there are some competitive races later on in the afternoon and Maguire’s Glen (1.40) should not be far away in the second race. Rainy Day Dylan (3.20) also deserves close inspection after a seven-length win over course and distance in a good time earlier this month, while Vinegar Hill (3.45) catches the eye at Ludlow at around 10-. He returns to hurdling after his jumping went awry over fences last time.
The weights were also published yesterday for the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury on 10 February, the richest two-mile handicap hurdle of the campaign.
In its previous incarnations – the Schweppes Hurdle and Tote Gold Trophy – the race proved irresistible for shrewd trainers looking to plot one up. These days, the quality is so high that winners often go on to contest Grade One events, and it has been won by a novice making its handicap debut in four of the last five seasons.
Even restricting a search through the weight to lightly-raced novices still leaves plenty to choose from however, and several are already towards the head of the ante-post betting. Colin Tizzard’s Lostintranslation, with just three runs behind him, is an obvious candidate from an opening mark of 134 but his chance is no better than at least half-a-dozen more at bigger prices.
Knocknanuss and Diese Des Bieffes are suggested as two against the fiel,d at 16-1 and 25-1 respectively. Knocknanuss has been raised 11lb since making a winning handicap debut at Fontwell in December, but he won as he pleased in a good time and represents Gary Moore, who has saddled the winner in three of the last 10 runnings.
Diese Des Bieffes has also had a run in a handicap already, finishing just under four lengths behind William Henry in the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton and is just 2lb higher for the Betfair Hurdle. The Newbury race is over the same two-mile trip as the strong novice hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day, where he was five lengths behind the top-class If The Cap Fits.
Southwell 12.20 Tilly Devine 12.50 Sunshineandbubbles 1.20 Angel Palanas 1.50 Axe Cap 2.20 Handsome Dude 2.55 Ingleby Spring 3.30 Something Lucky 4.05 Star Ascending
Ludlow 1.00 Passing Call 1.30 Happy Diva 2.00 Sego Success 2.35 Lygon Rock 3.10 Mendip Express 3.45 Vinegar Hill 4.20 Flash The Steel
Wincanton 1.10 Tacenda 1.40 Maguire’s Glen 2.10 Rathlin Rose 2.45 Triopas 3.20 Rainy Day Dylan (nap) 3.55 Inaminna
Chelmsford City 5.55 Hisar 6.30 Loyalty 7.00 Surrey Blaze 7.30 Shamrokh (nb) 8.00 Reiffa 8.30 Pulsating 9.00 Marshall Aid
